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Monday, 14 August 2017

August Destination Inspiration - arriving at Terminal 2

Hello all, Alison here from Words and Pictures, arriving at Terminal 2 of Destination Inspiration. As a reminder, here's what's in the travel bag this month:

Product - texture paste

Technique - layers

Colour - neutrals

Substrate - glass

I have to confess I really enjoyed this one, so this is one of my long posts. Cups of coffee at the ready? Then off we go... here are my foliage lanterns.

And here they are when they are candlelit from within.

Since the technique element this month is all about layers, I have to share at least some of them with you. I started with my plain glass jars (always happy to recycle a glass jar).

First layer for jar one was some Transparent Gloss Texture Paste applied through a harlequin stencil. Of course the paste goes on opaque, and then dries to transparency.

I was hoping that I'd be left with some clear "windows" for the candle to shine through. It didn't go quite according to plan in the end, but I like what I ended up with maybe even more so not to worry. Jar two had a layer even before the texture paste - some strips of tissue tape, which I thought would show through nicely.

And then the texture paste went over the top of the strips.

Jar one has its tissue tape around the neck instead. I quite like both looks!

At this point, I was enjoying the transparent texture over the transparent glass especially with the tissue tape strips showing through.

Next layer was some spritzing with the DecoArt Media Mister in White.

It's a shimmer mist, so you get a lovely soft mother-of-pearl effect. It didn't leave entirely clear windows (well, the gloss paste is no more of a resist than the glass underneath, of course) but I do like that the texture still shows.

And when the sunlight hits it... wow!

I mopped up the excess shimmering white liquid onto some spare card - and that's going to come in handy very soon. The grid pattern you can see is from the internal structure of the cardboard I was using as my spray area - the texture printed as I was mopping up the spray.

Next I did a couple of spritzes with Pumice Stone and Old Paper Distress Sprays. It adds just a little extra depth to the texture, but it looked a bit grubby in places, so I finished off with another spritz of the Shimmer White.

While that was all drying thoroughly, I started inking up my mop-up card with subtle neutral tones of both Distress Ink and Distress Oxide. There's Pumice Stone and Iced Spruce and Vintage Photo.

Later on I blended on some Walnut Stain and Gathered Twigs, I think, with maybe some Black Soot thrown in for good measure in places. From that I started cutting lots of foliage using the Tim Holtz thinlits. I loved these, even before I'd done anything with them!

And I preserved the paler card for cutting some wildflowers.

I started layering the foliage onto the jars from dark to light. Darker fronds and branches in the background...

... to the pale off-white wildflowers for the top layer.

(I always like to check out how things are going from the inside.)

At least, I thought it was the top layer... until I decided that I needed some words.

So the actual top layer is formed by some of my quote stamps from EAB02 Darkness and Light.

They're stamped in Ground Espresso (Archival version) on some more of the inky card which gives a lovely soft effect.

And I mounted them on padded tape, so that they stand a little way proud of the foliage, giving that top layer a touch more dimension.

Some simple twine around the grooves at the tops of the jars finishes them off.

It's another tricky photography challenge... these change so much in different lights.

In full daylight, with the light falling on them, they look almost like stone.

When they were on my desk, with the daylight falling inside, they were already glowing beautifully.

And when you put the candles in and light them in the dark, the foliage turns into glorious silhouettes.

If you want an altogether simpler look, you can turn them around and just have the mottled harlequin texture and subtle tissue tape text.

Also pretty by candlelight...

And when they're lit both within and without, then you get pretty much the best of both worlds...

as seen in the candlelit photo near the start of the post.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Check out what Nikki got up to last week with these same travel bag contents, and pop back next Monday to see who's up next to play with them. And in the meantime we'd love you to come along and play in our Watercolour challenge this month. Hope to see you somewhere along the road.

This is such a wonderful way to use the contents of the travel bag Alison! You have transformed those jars into beautiful pieces of home decor, the leaves and flowers are wonderful additions and I love the way they look when lit up. Beautiful! Hugs, Anne xx

These are so beautiful! Alison every which way you look at them. Such an impressive way of using the contents of the travel bag . So inspiring and thank you for sharing the process and all those glorious photos . Off to pin to our pinterest board but am wondering which of the two pics would you prefer me to pin- the lit or the unlit? x

Great project Alison, they look amazing. So this is just something more now that I would like to do I do have jars that is for sure. :) They really look lovely in both the sunlight and the candle light. Thanks for sharing

They are totally stunning, love the soft glow when lit, and the way I see all the layers through glass and light. So much beauty, to have standing in a window a dark night, Alison. You have the most amazing ideas !!Dorthe, Xo

What a beautiful repurpose of your jars, Alison! Wonderful textures and layering of just the right amount and how lovely they look in light and darkness with the glow of the candle! Your sentiments are perfect! Julia xx

Really amazing results with that texture paste...it has a beautiful subtle crackle to it that I love. Had my hand on a jar of that today, and decided against it. Looks like another trip to the craft store is in my future! Your votives are just beautiful with the light shining through, but even lovelier with the candle light! Your sentiments seem to be made just for these. Great use of the travel bag goodies!

These are wonderful, Alison. I love the textures, the foliage and the text! Somehow they manage to be both understated and dramatic at the same time, if that makes sense! I really love Etsuko's comparison above. That describes them so well. xx